1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to assistire listening devices and more particularly to those devices receiving infrared and radio transmission, used by hearing impaired people while attending concerts, plays and other entertainment or educational affairs in an enclosed environment such as a theater, auditorium or other assembly room where acoustical aid is needed.
One class of equipment for overcoming hearing problems comprises a receiver housing supported by the head of a user and a pair of earphones supported adjacent to the ears of the user. The housing contains a receiver, such as an FM radio or infrared sensor or the like, which responds to audio signals on a radio or infrared carrier emitted by a transmitter. This equipment also contains means to amplify the signal and convert it to audio signal energy that drives the earphones mounted on or in a user's ears. A power source such as a battery is also included in the prior art equipment.
A novelty search of the patented art relating to hearing devices, and particularly those that are capable of moving between an expanded operational configuration and a contracted configuration for storage when not in use, discovered the following U.S. Pat. Nos.:
4,409,442 issued Oct. 11, 1983 to Kamimura; PA0 4,445,005 issued Apr. 24, 1984 to Furuhashi; PA0 4,463,223 issued Jul. 31, 1984 to Yamanoi et al.; PA0 4,465,907 issued Aug. 14, 1984 to Minear et al.; PA0 4,517,418 issued May 14, 1985 to Baran et al.; PA0 4,571,746 issued Feb. 25, 1986 to Gorike; PA0 4,597,469 issued Jul. 1, 1986 to Nagashima; PA0 4,609,786 issued Sep. 2, 1986 to Omoto et al.; PA0 5,027,433 issued Jun. 25, 1991 to Nenadier et al.; PA0 5,095,382 issued Mar. 10, 1992 to Abe; PA0 5,099,519 issued Mar. 24, 1992 to Guan; PA0 5,253,095 issued Oct. 12, 1993 to Menadier et al.; and PA0 4,920,570 issued Apr. 24, 1990 to West.
Public theaters transmit wireless signals of the sound from a performance for hearing impaired audience members on either FM radio (FM) or infrared (IR) radiation carriers. Management provides assistire listening devices (ALD's) to the public for use during a performance. The ALD receives either the FM or the IR, decodes, amplifies and converts the transmitted signal into audible sound at earphones at the distal ends of two arms extending from a housing encasing the electronics and battery.
The devices are fragile and easily damaged. Many users consider them unsanitary, since the earphones fit into or onto the ears of strangers and may transmit contaminants from the hair or ears of others.
Many users would prefer to use their own ALD, especially if it were compatible with both FM and IR. If the device were less fragile and bulky and the earphones were not exposed to soiling or damage, the ALD would be more acceptable and easier to carry to performances. If the battery did not require frequent replacement, it would be easier for incapacitated users to maintain.
Since the earphones will be in the ears while the housing is below the chin, the minimum length of the extension arms from earphones to housing is predetermined by normal human anatomy when in the operational mode.
None of the patents found in the novelty search discloses a collapsible integral hearing device for both IR and FM comprising a base housing supported by earphones, constructed and arranged to have dimensions sufficiently small to fit inside a case on the order of magnitude of an eyeglass case and also provided with a pair of jointed extension arms each constructed and arranged with a pivot pivotally connecting a distal portion of said extension arm to its proximal portion. The structural elements of the prior art devices shown in the enumerated patents are not capable of folding inward from an unfolded configuration when in use to a closed configuration in which the portions of the extension arms embrace the base housing in such a closely hugging relation that the device when closed is capable of fitting within a storage case whose size approximates that of an eyeglass case.